Auden : invests in JimDrive digital auto club

Berlin - 19 January 2017

• Auden secures investment position in excess of 10% in Stuttgart-based,
  Europe-wide digital auto service network
• Disruptive, alternative business model for an established market
• Dynamic, high-margin growth company with prominent investors

Auden AG, the Berlin-based investment company, has taken a new position in the latest financing round for JimDrive, a Stuttgart-based start-up venture providing a digital alternative to traditional automobile clubs. Under the terms of the convertible loan, Auden can convert its position at any time into shares, which based on the portfolio company's current valuation equates to a shareholding of over ten per cent.

JimDrive has positioned itself for rapid growth with strong margins as it competes with Germany's ADAC, Europe's largest automobile club with some 18.9 million members. With thousands of new customers each month, JimDrive is growing rapidly as it offers the same range of road services as the long-time market leader - but with significantly lower pricing. It should thus come as no surprise that this newcomer is already being referred to in the German media as the 'digital ADAC'.

By focusing on what is actually important to customers, and by offering fast, unbureaucratic service based on streamlined processes, JimDrive's business model is perfectly tailored to the internet generation. Moreover, by avoiding the massive expenses of a bricks-and-mortar branch network, member magazines and club structures, the start-up company, founded just one year ago, is able to offer its comprehensive range of automotive breakdown and support services at low prices while achieving consistently high levels of customer satisfaction.

In addition to its basic service package for Germany (EUR 29.99), supported by a nationwide fleet of more than 1,900 service vehicles, JimDrive also offers a comprehensive Europe-wide package (EUR 49.99), including the complete range of breakdown and accident-related benefits offered by its larger rival, such as emergency service, towing, vehicle removal and transportation, pick-up service, and substitute rental car. These and all other benefits also apply to the customer's spouse or domestic partner when driving the insured vehicle. The equivalent service package offered by the market leader costs more than EUR 80.

With some 54 million licensed drivers in Germany, and some 560 million in Europe, the market potential is immense. From the very start, the concept behind JimDrive's disruptive business model for seizing share in the large and established market for automotive road services attracted such prominent investors as Motor Presse Stuttgart, an automotive publishing group owned by the founder of Germany's Check24 portal group and by Germany's ProSiebenSat.1 Media group. With the completion of the latest capital raising round, the company's investors now anticipate even more rapid growth at JimDrive.

JimDrive has set ambitious growth goals for itself. Under its plans, the exponential growing membership acquisition rates to date are to be significantly further boosted in 2018 and 2019, with a medium-term target of one million paying members.

Christofer Radic, CEO of Auden AG, says of the new portfolio company: 'JimDrive fits superbly into our portfolio of digital company with high growth potential. What attracts us particularly to this company is that it has a disruptive business model which should be able to rapidly seize share from a long-established and rather antiquated industry with its far more efficient digital alternative.'